Only in Miami

I am still laughing over this story running in our local stations! Read on:

MIAMI -- A man was arrested Tuesday after he strapped a lamppost onto the top of a van and tried to sell it for scrap at a recycling shop, Miami police said.

Elio Valera told Local 10 he single-handedly strapped the lamppost to the top of the borrowed van and drove it about 40 blocks to a recycling center near Northwest Seventh Avenue and 21st Street, where he intended to sell it for a few hundred dollars.

"It's been on the ground for three months," Valera told Local 10's Mark Joyella. "Nobody's picked it up. If they don't want to recycle it and use it, I will."

So off he drove, red flags carefully tied to the end of the lamppost, alerting drivers to the oversized load.

"Well, 40 years in the business, three cities, lots of experience, I've never seen anything like this," Miami Police Chief John Timoney commented.

"They should use it to recycle it," Valera said.

But the owner of the recycling shop that promises cash for cans and copper said Valera wasn't going to find anybody willing to pay for a lamppost.

"Loco," the owner said. "He's crazy."

"I mean, it was a crazy idea, but…" Valera said as his voice trailed off.

The lamppost belongs to Florida Power & Light. Valera faces charges of grand theft and dealing in stolen property.

As police arrested Valera, they said another man arrived at the recycling shop toting a shopping cart with a Miami-Dade County sewer cover inside. He was also arrested and faces charges.

In the end, it took a team of two with a high-tech truck to move what Valera only needed a van and some rope to accomplish.